MAP36: The Crusher (PlayStation Doom)

MAP36: The Crusher is the thirty-sixth level of the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions of Doom, and the sixth level of the Doom II episode. It is based on the original MAP06: The Crusher, with modifications made to adapt the map to the consoles' limitations. The author of the original map is American McGee.

Essentials
From the starting position, work your way straight forward through the forest of pillars to the lift on the far side, fighting enemies along the way. The lift will lower to a large room with a blue keycard, which appears in different locations depending on skill level. At the bottom of the lift, step out and press the switch on your right to activate the crusher and squash the Hell knights under it. Once they are dead and the crusher rises again, climb the stairs up to it to find a plasma gun and, on I am a Wimp or Not Too Rough, the blue keycard. On Hurt Me Plenty or Ultra Violence, take the lift back up and you will see a gap in the bars. Run through this to land on the ledge behind it and press the switch - this will lower a lift at the other end of the room holding the blue keycard, so go and collect it before the lift rises again.

Once you have the blue keycard, take the lift back up to the starting area, where an alcove containing several enemies has opened in the north wall. The blue door is next to this alcove, so go through it and press the switch on your left to lower another lift. Ride it to the upper floor and follow the corridor round, past the red door, until you reach a silver door. Open it and press the switch behind to lower a lift leading to another door, behind which is a large spiral staircase. Follow the staircase up, watching out for ambushes from chaingunners and revenants on the way, until you leap to a rectangular platform holding the red keycard. As you do this, the floor will lower to release some demons and a lost soul.

Backtrack up the corridor to the red door, watching out for another open alcove containing imps. Behind the red door is an outdoor area with round rock structures - carefully cross the bridge (the lava here is inescapable if you fall into it) and head through a narrow passage to the doorway on the other side. Open the door here to reach a large square room, with a sludge moat surrounding a metal structure. Turn left and follow the walkway round to a switch, which lowers the nearby platform holding the yellow keycard. When you pick up the keycard the central structure will open, allowing a number of monsters to teleport to the outer areas of the room. Dispose of them then step into any of the teleporters to enter the central structure, then press the switch on the east wall. This will raise a bridge behind you leading to the exit door - cross it, open the exit door and press the switch behind to finish the level.

Other points of interest
A super shotgun is placed in the starting room, straight ahead of the start point. Going straight towards it alerts multiple enemies to the player's presence.

Taking the lift at the west end of the crusher room (which holds the blue keycard on higher skill levels) will bring you to a dark corridor with imps. Follow the corridor round to find a soulsphere at the end.

Secrets

 * 1) In the starting room with many pillars, locate the pillar with a lightning bolt sign on its north side in the south-east corner of the room. Press use on this pillar to lower it and reveal a megasphere. (sector 99)
 * 2) In the room containing the crusher, drop down into the sludge river running through the center of the room and follow to its southeast end, where a secret room holding two stimpacks and a teleporter can be found. (sector 97)
 * 3) While climbing the spiral staircase leading to the red keycard, two alcoves will open revealing enemies; the first one contains chaingunners, while the second one houses revenants. From the top of the staircase, drop down into the alcove the chaingunners were in. Open the wall with the lightning bolt symbol to reveal a secret area containing a backpack, a rocket launcher, a box of rockets, a megaarmor and a megasphere. (sector 182)

Bugs

 * None of the brown pillars supporting the structures in the outdoor area past the red door have a proper Y-offset setting, so they are rendered invertedly.
 * Pressing use on either of the door tracks next to the red door will crash the game. This is because the lines were mistakenly given manual push-activation door actions. This issue is inherited from the PC version.
 * Inherited from the PC version: two of the six deathmatch starts (things 223 and 224) have no flags set for any of the three difficulty classes, but because of special handling in the engine, they function normally in the level. This issue is inherited from the PC version.

Comparison of versions
Several differences exist in this level compared to the PC version.

Room design

 * All switches use a red/green light on metal wall texture (named on PC).
 * Nukage pits throughout the level are changed to sludge.
 * Several changes were made to the crusher room:
 * The height of the room is reduced, because the renderer used in console ports can only tile textures vertically once. (Because the river sector is more than 256 units high, a hidden sector is added at its north end to avoid distorting that section of wall.)
 * The room is narrower, and the ledges along the south wall have been moved closer to the center of the room.
 * The ledge in the south-east corner is slightly larger, making it easier to reach when jumping from the elevator.
 * The nukage pit running through the room is narrower, and the adjoining chamber containing the teleporter is wider to account for the player's increased radius.
 * The entrance to the hallway in secret #3 is slightly wider.

Monster placement

 * The spiderdemon under the crusher is replaced with Hell knights on Ultra Violence skill level. In the PC version of the level, the knights only appear on Hurt Me Plenty.
 * The Hell knight behind the red door is replaced with three nightmare spectres on Ultra Violence. On Hurt Me Plenty, no monsters appear behind the door.
 * The two zombiemen in secret #3 are replaced with shotgun guys.
 * The demon guarding the exit switch on Ultra Violence and Hurt Me Plenty is replaced with a nightmare spectre.

Other

 * All transparent grates in the level are replaced with translucent windows.
 * The super shotgun in the alcove containing revenants in the spiral staircase area is replaced with a box of shells. The weapon is moved to the starting room, just north of secret #1.

Music
The map uses the following music tracks:

Player spawns
This level contains six spawn points:
 * 1) facing west. (thing 3)
 * 2) facing east. (thing 4)
 * 3) facing west. (thing 5)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 223)
 * 5) facing west. (thing 224)
 * 6) facing west. (thing 225)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: